IN MT SKIN
Directed by: Marina de Van.
Produced by: Laurence Farene.
Written by: Marina de Van.
Director of Photography: Pierre Barougier.
Edited by: Mike Fromentin.
Music by: E.S.T. (Esbjörn Svenson Trio).
Released by: Wellspring.
Country of Origin: France. 93 min. Not Rated.
With: Marian de Van & Laurent Lucas.

An impeccably dressed, upwardly mobile woman with a face of a Renaissance Madonna, Esther (de Van), strolling in a dark backyard during a networking party, stumbles. It is only later she sees blood on a carpet and realizes her leg has been severely cut. Yet, she asks her friends out for a nightcap before she sees a doctor. At work, she’s asked by her supervisor to make corrections in her report. She instead proceeds to an isolated dark corridor and cuts herself, further mutilating her leg. Her obsession with her wounds is genuinely shocking and stomach turning, as the film becomes unflinchingly graphic. Renting a cheap hotel room alone, she’s vacantly blissful stroking her face with a knife. But her behavior is not quite a cry for help. She confesses or admits to the cuttings to a female colleague and her handsome boyfriend (Lucas), but dismisses their concern saying she won’t do it again. Although there is a subplot involving the competitive nature of her profession and the impending cohabitation with her boyfriend, Esther’s motivation is superficial. Actually, the character is a sketch, not a full-fledge portrayal, in comparison to last year’s angry and self-destructive figure in The Piano Teacher. What could have been a sharp short film is instead an endless display of masochism that’s hard to watch, even for the most stalwart filmgoer. Kent Turner
November 6, 2003